Conquer the mountain

I am having so much fun experimenting with my Ancient Secret Chinese Solution that I am constantly searching for appropriate subject matters to paint with.  Somehow I am obsessed. 

I had fun with the snow contrasted by the dark water.  I thought it looked stunning.  My new project must involve snow and dark water.  How about placing a snowy mountain with the foothill woodland in the background for good measure.  A screen saver used by the local Public Broadcasting audio channel fit the bill perfectly.  I'll paint that.

A horrible thought came to mind.  A small painting was not going to emanate the aura of a grand landscape.  I should try something bigger perhaps.

Luck will have it that I bought a surplus frame for very little moolah and it measures 4 ft x 2 ft.  My Xuan stock is 54 in x 27 in ( notice the 2:1 ratio ) so I have no problem with the raw material.
Armed with the new found curiosity and confidence, and perhaps a little arrogance, I started my painting.

My big painting.

I shall start from the foreground and work my way to the mountain in the back.  I shall be using the alum solution to depict snow.  Thus instead of leaving a void I am actually painting the void spaces too, albeit with the clear alum solution.  What I am going to do a little differently this time is to paint everything on one side of the paper first instead of constantly switching from front to back etc.  I ended up confusing myself since I liked the effects from both sides of the paper.  After I am done with the one side, I will flip the paper over and work on the back side and make my call after everything is done.

So the foreground is basically a large spread of flat snow covered ground with a stream running in the middle.

I painted in the left bank of stream, creating a few slopes to add interest to a otherwise flat feature.

Placed my right bank, using a little ink to create shading, giving the bank dimension.

I finished constructing the banks of the stream.   I wasn't going to do anything to the rest of the snowy plain, since it was going to be white.  I folded a crease in my paper and that would be the edge of the woodland at the foothill.

Time to conquer my mountain.

I began by writing in my snow using the alum solution.

I used a smaller brush because I wanted to make smaller lines, wanting to add texture to the snow.

With my brush soaked with ink and alum solution, I started my tree planting exercise.  The creased line in the paper facilitated in the positioning of the trunks.

Took the opportunity to write in many dots with the alum solution.  The plan was to have these dots appear as lighter than the surrounding, giving an air of snow cover on leaves and branches. 

Using a darker ink, I filled in the stream.

It was interesting to see the darker ink tried to obscure the alum solution painted snow, but only partially.  I seemed to have found a way to express submerged snow or ice.

Using different tones of ink now, going over the areas of the mountain and the woodland, I brought out what was hidden beneath the ink tone.

Continue with my alum solution painting

After further treatment to the background to make the white pop a little bit more and decided that this is the side I preferred as the top, I arrived at a point when I was ready to paint my elk in the middle, as I did the last painting.

But then I noticed the void at the bottom left.  I needed to address it.

Should I treat that as mist and paint that accordingly?  If it was mist, I would have liked it to appear at a few more locations to permeate the entire woods.  I looked for additional locations where I could plant my vapor.

I struggled with that thought for a few days and decided against it.  I wanted something fresh.

Let me transform that corner into a riverbed.   I could say that the trees ended at the banks of a river or a creek.

Using alum solution I painted in the bank, flanked by rocks and boulders in the middle of the stream, again covered with snow.

 I decided to use ink to represent the water ( at night, in the dark?).  I enjoyed the contrast of the dark water against the background.

The effect was pretty stunning visually, I told myself.

But this attempt had me discombobulated, sort of.  The bottom left drew so much attention now and seemed disconnected with the rest of the painting,  especially the vertical void in the middle.  The path I had allocated seemed out of place now.

My remedy was to extend the water into the middle of the painting.  I painted in a couple of rocks to establish the other bank of the water.

Again using ink to depict water, I extended my river across the middle, and the tree at the center became the foreground, partially blocking the view of the water.  Working from the back of the paper I took out the path in the center by painting in more trees, and tried to hide the rest of the voids as an amorphous vapor.

So now my painting became a snow covered woods along a river or creek.  This was very different from what I had planned originally.

I was not ready to give up my animal.  I thought I would try a different species.

How about a mama black bear with her cubs?  That would be cute.  If nothing else, they could make the painting more personable?

It should be clear by now that the way I employed the alum solution was to exploit the way it interacts with ink and Xuan.  I should also make it succinct that I was using both sides of the paper during the course of the painting, to the extent that I often get confused myself and couldn't decide which side showed more nuances.

To illustrate my point, I hung my painting against a window and took pictures of both sides:

In the end, this one gets my nod.

More Alum

Having time to step back and re-examine my last painting, as I was having problem deciding which side would be my "top side", I've decided to display the animal with its head pointing to the left side of the paper.

I prefer this orientation perhaps due to the slight slant of the road edge, giving the frame some direction, for which the animal is responding to.  It's hard to say;  it's just a feeling.  I also thought that the straight lines of the lodge pole pines are less obtrusive.  The same lines seemed a lot darker on the other side of the paper;  perhaps that was the side I painted on.  I am thus in effect looking at the back side of the painting now.

Looking at what I wrote in the last blog, this is exactly the case.  I started the painting by painting the elk with its nose pointing to the right of the paper.  I am therefore using the back side of the painting as the top side now.

I am having second thoughts about my added brushstrokes to the snow covered path.  My intent was to describe the undulating surface of the road but I fell victim to the equally spaced rhythmic strokes of my brush.   Instead of random irregularities of the road surface, I've made it out to be a mogul jump event now.  I regret that I've over-produced this piece of work, as a sound engineer might have said.  Whereas at a sound studio one could take attenuate or even delete individual tracks, that luxury is non-existent here.  Oh well.

So I thought I would give painting with alum another try.  It was definitely excited about exploring the nuances of painting with alum.

For this attempt, I decided to be a little bit more methodical.  I wanted to paint the same scene, but instead of placing a lot of dots and dabs of alum solution, I tried defining each tree.

Basically I was treating the snow laden branches as petals of a flower.

Using a light ink wash, I covered what I have laid down to help reveal the white patches and margins left by the alum solution

The back side of the panting after the initial ink wash

The alum solution in the brushstrokes helped to fix the ink before it migrated out too much into the Xuan, and also made the paper less permeable to future coatings of ink.  Thus by judiciously manipulating the tone and placement of additional ink, the appearance of snow was achieved.  

The above was the side I painted on.  

Picture below was the the back side of the same painting.  A little bit subdued and dreamy when compared with the painted surface.

Painting with alum solution

Those of you who followed my blog know that I've on many occasions used alum solution for my painting.  I've affectionately called alum solution as my Ancient Chinese Secret Solution.  I believe my first attempt was marked by my "Splash" painting.  I've also tried to experiment with egg whites and epsom salts but was disappointed by the results. 

The role of alum for me has been relegated to a supporting cast status.  I intend to give it a major role in the sense that my painting would be dictated by the artful utilization of alum.  I plan to use alum as my "color".  Alum solution is used to size Xuan, the paper we paint on.  My friends who does Gongbi style brush painting use alum as a mordant when they paint on sized Xuan or silk.

I like alum solution because it works as a masking solution for me.  I know watercolorists use a solution that dries to form a rubber mask to conceal void spaces.  I am referring to the Resist solution.  One can paint over such areas and then peel off the rubber mask to reveal the protected area.  The fragility of the Xuan absolutely prohibits such practice.  The rubber mask would destroy and tear the paper when attempting to lift it off the surface.  The fact that alum imparts some impermeability to subsequent coloring could be attributed to the fact that it acts as a fixer.  It fixes the ink or pigment that is mixed with it.  Because the ink or color is fixed before the brushstroke dries, and as the rest of the solution in the brushstroke continues to slowly migrate through the fibers in the paper, a clear margin forms around the imprint of the brushstroke.  This clear margin is exploited to give the effect of  back-lit subjects.

I started by exploring the nuances of painting with alum solution.   I scribbled various lines on my Xuan, employing alum solution along with various tonal colors of ink.

Notice the clear demarcation around the individual brushstrokes.  

Then I tried something with a little more drama.  I used a very wet brush loaded with alum solution with ink on the tip of my brush.

All those brushstrokes were meant to be contiguous, and yet there were clear margins around each brushstroke.  

The above is the backside of my doodling.  The photo itself does not tell the whole story.  I believe the smartphone has built in level adjustment, thus making the image more vivid than it truly is.  Nonetheless, I think the effect of the demarcation is even more pronounced than the front.

What I wanted to paint was a snow scene.  I would attempt to paint my snow with alum solution.  Instead of reserving a blank space for snow, I used alum solution, combined with various shades of ink, to paint the appearance of snow.

First I started with the element of interest in my painting.  Following the rule of thirds, I folded a line that is one-third the height of my painting and that's where I spotted my elk.

A close-up of my animal.  The presence of alum solution in my brush rendered each brushstroke distinctly.

My next task was to see how I could effectively portray snow covered trees.  I decided to model the trees after the firs and lodge pole pines that are so prevalent here.  I began my trial and error by using simple dots.  Dots of different shades of alum solution.  Note that I painted on the back of my paper.  The fact that the images on the back side looked better than top side gave me that direction.

I tried using two brushes.  One with alum solution and the other with ink,  I wanted to see if I could effect a more realistic representation of snow covered trees.  I painted the darker poles on the top side of the paper,  hoping the interplay of front and back side would add to the ambiguity and therefore the nondescript feel of snow covered trees.

So far I was dotting my "snow" and painting in the tall poles of fir.  The vertical lines of these fir trees should give my painting a structure.

The above was the back of the snow brushstrokes but the top side for painting the tree poles.  Confused?  That was my premise.  Exploiting the translucent Xuan by employing  both surfaces as my canvas.

For the other half of the painting, I changed my method of painting.  I painted individual trees and tried to assemble the additional members in a cohesive manner.

Close-up if my snow effect.  Notice the translucent dabs formed by footprint of my alum solution.

The same image on the reverse side of the paper.  Again, it seemed to present the feel of snow better.

So this is what I ended up with

I can't remember which side is the front or back now.

So is this a painting about a snow covered woods or about an elk?  I'm re-living my moments of painting my Korean Maidens.

Confession

I was flipping through channels on my streaming device and noticed quite a few programs on the topic of Leonardo Da Vinci.  Obviously Mona Lisa garnered a lot of headlines.

I was fortunate enough to pay a personal visit to Mona Lisa at Musee du Louvre.  I must confess, I didn't see what all that hoopla was about.  I must be an ignorant smuck for failing to recognize and concur with the iconic status of this painting.  Did the painting derive its fame from tabloid gossips, artistry, or academia? Everybody wanted a selfie with Lisa.  For their Instagram accounts, I presume.

No doubt it is a great piece of artwork by one of the most famous Renaissance man, but what catapulted it to the throne of supreme art?  I was drawn in by the many docuseries on Da Vinci.  I definitely was intrigued. Tugging at me were all the fringe information about Da Vinci's family history, and whether his mother was a slave girl from the Orient.  However, what really interested me was why the Mona Lisa is so enigmatic.  I needed to know what I missed at the Louvre.  I wanted to learn about the painting itself, not so much as in who Mona Lisa was, but why the painting commanded so much attention, disregarding anything Freudian.

Soon I discovered that there were no eyebrows behind that enigmatic smile.  There were no harsh lines; all contour and light transitions on the face were feathered out, as nature intended.  The perfect lip and mouth was documented in the artist's notes, when he dissected bodies to study morphology and anatomy.  The enigmatic smile was further examined by apply a fair amount of Gaussian blur, at which point the smile turned into a big chin to chin grin.  This change is exemplified by placing the painting in our peripheral vision and moving it into focus, in the central point of our vision, hence  altering the quality of our visual acuity.. Thus the intrigue of the painting seems to be related to how it appears from different viewing angles, and that there is a scientific basis to the phenomenon.

One of these documentary segments delved with Da Vinci's brushstrokes and how he painted atmosphere; specifically how color is affected by the atmosphere as a function of physical distance.  The researchers went as far as to develop an algorithm to back date how pigment and color changed over time.  They applied their mask to digitally retrieve how Mona Lisa would have looked like on day 1.  The background of this painting assumed a different hue and feel altogether.  Now the digitally restored background wore a blue sky with mist further delineating the back row peaks from the front.

I for one, prefer the non-restored version.  It exhumes mystique, espoused by the darker tones.

But that's not the point of my dissertation.  I am trying to draw comparison to my own vivid experience with rendition of background.

When I started my painting of the Korean Maidens, I had clear intention of presenting an accurate picture of the culture, both in attire and architecture.  I even researched hanbok and chima, brought on by my search of crinoline and bustle.  Without a doubt my interest was on the two maidens.  They were the protagonists for my painting.

As the painting process continued, my autopilot disengaged itself and sought a new flight route.  I found myself steering away from the girls.  My attention was now placed on the background, the architecture itself;  especially the geometric lines.   The distraction was severe enough for me to halt my painting and re-evaluate my design.

I eventually painted a second version ( a practice I rarely subscribe to) of my Korean Maidens, with the emphasis on the geometric arrays of the building now.

I don't know if it was a conscious decision or a subconscious effort, the girls appeared smaller now in proportion to the background building.  There was no doubt what my focal interest was at.

That was the version I placed at a show.  During the course of the reception I got called out.  "You named your painting Korean Maidens, but I think you were painting the temple", said a viewer.

How astute.  She saw through me.

I proceeded to fumble for my cell phone, opened the Photo app and showed her the 2 different versions of the painting, each hinged on the different interpretations of the background.

I had surrendered my cerebral cortex to my limbic system during the course of my painting.

Unknowingly, of course. I confess.

Exploiting Shadows

My mission all along is not only to paint a rat to celebrate the lunar new year, but also to make the painting interesting.  I try to paint a posture that suggests movement.

I examined my painting at this stage and I was not unhappy with my work.  In fact I was quite pleased.  It thought I had captured the essence that I set out to do.

But something was amiss.

It looked too much like a painting, as if that was a bad thing.

I needed to inject a smidgen of realism into my painting.

I recalled that when I did my Shadows painting, I cut out paper silhouettes of the lady and her dog and casted shadows with them.  That method worked well to integrate their shadows into my painting of tree shadows.  I reached for this scheme again from my bag of tricks.

I fashioned the head of my rat out of aluminum foil, making it the same size as the painted image.  I then placed this impromptu wad onto my rat and casted a shadow with my desk lamp.

I tried a different angle with my lamp

I preferred the orientation of the second try.  I liked the more cohesive and less intrusive shadow from this angle.  So this is going to be the blueprint for my rat's shadow.

Immediately I could see the separation of the rat's head from the paper. I was absolutely elated.  I was this kid in a toy store.  I gleefully wrote in the whiskers.  Now my Rat is complete.

So why not make the entire landscape, the red square and all, three dimensional?

A judicious thin ink brushstroke just outside the bottom margins of the red square created the illusion of the red square being lifted from my Xuan.  Ah man, this is too much!  This was way beyond my imagination.  I personally thought the resulting realism was stunning.

The impulse to showcase this work was so immense that I wasted no time in buying my clear plastic panes and poplar planks and began my mounting and framing process.  I was motivated, to say the least.

Here is the finished product.

So here begs the question by some of my critics.  Chinese brush painting is supposed to be two dimensional and sort of impressionistic.  What I have done is not Chinese brush painting.

So what IS Chinese brush painting?